House pioneer Romanthony dies at 45

It has been confirmed that the house producer and vocalist Romanthony died on May 7 at the age of 45. It is said the New Jersey DJ, whose real name was Anthony Moore, died of complications of kidney disease. Although Moore was best known for his vocal work on Daft Punk’s 2000 chart-topping ‘One More Time’, he was also an acclaimed pioneer of soulful house music.

Boys Noize was in the process of collaborating with Romathony. Following the news of his passing, the electro producer tweeted: “Romanthony and me were working on such an amazing song together. He said it was the best song he had ever written.”

Moore released his first record in 1992, the Now You Want Me EP, which was released on both Black Male Records label and Azuli. His early productions centred around a raw, minimalist type of house music and featured his own utterly distinctive vocal croon that drew heavily on soul and gospel.

His early singles included ‘Make This Love Right’ and ‘Let Me Show You Love’. In 1996, he released the double-disc album Romanworld through Azuli Records, wielding a multitude of sounds: soul, blues, techno, house, ambient and spoken word. He went on to create two albums for the Glasgow Underground label, 1999′s Instinctual (in collaboration with DJ Predator) and Hide in Plain Site in 2000.

The following year, Daft Punk released their second album, Discovery, which featured Romanthony’s autotuned vocals on the lead single ‘One More Time’. Romanthony also sang on the closing track ‘Too Long’

In 2000s Romathony enjoyed a brief hiatus, but recently returned to team up with Kraak & Smaak for 2012′s “Hold Back Love / Let’s Go Back” and sang on Teengirl Fantasy’s ‘Do It’ Tracer last year.

MikeQ, as well as Boys Noize, has said that he was working on new material with the singer.